SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

THE ALGORITHMIC PUBLIC SPHERE AND YOU

Today’s tech companies have enormous power over what we can access and share, and the input we—as users and citizens—have the ability to provide is minimal. Increasingly, algorithms are being deployed to control how information is delivered to us, as well as for the purpose of moderating user-generated content. These algorithms are proprietary, created by human beings at companies that fail on nearly all measures of diversity, and accountable to few. As user-generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter reach monopolistic proportions, it has become more difficult to “vote with our feet” (or, more accurately, our data) than ever before. This talk will examine the state of the networked public sphere, the actors determining our destinies online and, most importantly, what we can do about it.